Harry Smith

American visual artist, experimental film maker and renowned archivist & researcher in the cultural heritage of American folk, country & blues music. Born May 29, 1923, Portland, OR - died November 27, 1991, New York City, NY. Having collected a vast hoard of early recordings since 1940, Smith then met up with [a688836], with a view to having his collection curated. Having licensed his archive to Asch's [l20694] an anthology was produced, with Smith providing background & liner notes. Technically, many of these works were still the property of extant labels, so in some respects these early Folkways issues are unofficial. Previously a West Coast film-maker, Smith was a rather eccentric character. His booklets and notes in the works are imbued with cosmology and alchemical influences. This aspect was doubtless a lure to [l19152], who reissued some of his Anthologies on CD in 2000. In 1986 Folkways was acquired by [l91602] Recordings, who reissued the set in 1997 in conjunction with the Harry Smith Archive. Smith died of cardiac arrest in the Chelsea Hotel, N.Y., in 1991. Poet, essayist & film-maker Paola Igliori, who had published a work on Smith in 1996 ("American Magus: A Modern Alchemist"), released a documentary of his life in 2001, entitled "American Magus".

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